{"id":779614,"date":"2026-07-05T01:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779614\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:06:09","slug":"jon-jones-gives-conor-mcgregor-his-flowers-ahead-of-ufc-329","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779614\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Jones Gives Conor McGregor His Flowers Ahead Of UFC 329"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Not everyone is excited about the return of Conor McGregor next weekend at UFC 329, but UFC legend Jon Jones sure is.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">As two of the most popular and controversial fighters in MMA history, McGregor and Jones share more similarities than fight fans may think. Whether it\u2019s their previous dominance inside of the cage or issues outside of it, \u201cNotorious\u201d and \u201cBones\u201d have experienced comparable ups and down throughout their careers. Because of this, Jones is able to draw some inspiration from McGregor\u2019s impending return next weekend at UFC 329.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Earlier this week, Jones was asked about McGregor\u2019s comeback fight and he immediately gave \u201cNotorious\u201d his flowers. Jones believes McGregor\u2019s decision to return to fighting when he doesn\u2019t need to shows his true love for the sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cConor doesn\u2019t need to fight,\u201d Jones told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TGlbMsblMoU\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Red Corner MMA<\/a>. \u201cHe has everything, and I respect the fact that he\u2019s coming back to fight so much because it shows that he\u2019s a fighter in his heart. Me, I\u2019ve got to a certain level, and I decided to walk away. Conor, he\u2019s back and it just shows how much he loves the sport and shows that he\u2019s still that fighter despite having so much success. I\u2019m rooting for him, I\u2019m proud of him, and I think he\u2019s just great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Aside from his love for the sport and itch for competition, McGregor is looking to prove he\u2019s still one of the best fighters in the world when he takes on Max Holloway in a rematch next weekend. It\u2019s been a long five-year journey for McGregor to get back to this point, but \u201cNotorious\u201d is steadfast in returning to greatness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cThe businessman that he\u2019s been for our sport, he teaches fighters that we can be more than just fighters,\u201d said Jones. \u201cWe can take our brand and do something special with it, which he did with Proper 12 whisky and everything. I\u2019m proud of Conor, I\u2019m a massive fan. I think I will be for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cHe has had a lot of struggles, ups and downs, just like I have, but he always gets back on his feet, which is a huge example to so many out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">For more UFC 329 fight card news and coverage click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-fight-cards\/444863\/ufc-329-fight-card-start-time-date-location-conor-mcgregor-max-holloway-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not everyone is excited about the return of Conor McGregor next weekend at UFC 329, but UFC legend&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396],"class_list":["post-779614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}